Specific Figures of the Party-wide Vote Not Disclosed
Kwon Youngse: "A Sincere Effort to Establish a Competitive Candidate"
"Apologies to Party Members and the Public for the Confusion... I Will Step Down"
On May 10, the leadership of the People Power Party held a party-wide vote to elect former Prime Minister Han Ducksoo as the new presidential candidate, following the cancellation of candidate qualification for Kim Moonsu. However, the proposal was rejected. As a result, Kim's qualification as a presidential candidate was immediately restored, and Kwon Youngse, the head of the emergency committee, announced his resignation.
After convening an emergency committee meeting at the National Assembly that afternoon, Kwon stated that the ARS vote of all party members to elect Han as the new presidential candidate had been counted and the proposal was rejected. However, the party leadership did not disclose the specific figures of the vote that day.
Kwon explained, "It was a decision made out of loyalty to establish a competitive candidate, in accordance with the will of the party members." He continued, "However, in the end, we failed to obtain the consent of the party members for the change of candidate. I sincerely apologize for causing concern among party members and the public due to the confusion in procedures and process."
Kwon further stated that, due to the rejection of the party member vote, the emergency committee's decision was nullified, saying, "Kim's qualification as a presidential candidate has been immediately restored, and the official candidate registration will take place tomorrow."
He added, "I deeply regret that we were unable to achieve unification, but I believe this is due to my own shortcomings," and announced, "I will take full responsibility and step down from my position as head of the emergency committee."
He also appealed, "Dear party members, I earnestly ask you to unite your strength so that our party can prevent Lee Jaemyung, the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, from establishing a dictatorship and achieve victory in the presidential election."
The camps of candidate Kim and former Prime Minister Han held unification negotiations the previous day, but failed to narrow their differences over the inclusion of a clause to prevent strategic voting in opinion polls, resulting in a breakdown of talks. In response, the party leadership convened an emergency committee and the party's election management committee early that morning, stripped Kim of his presidential candidate status, and nominated Han as the new candidate. Subsequently, the People Power Party held a party-wide vote asking members to approve or reject Han as the new presidential candidate.
Amid both internal and external criticism over these developments, the People Power Party once again attempted to mediate unification negotiations between Han and Kim, but failed to reach a compromise.
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